I looking for recommendations for stories where the protagonist makes a discovery or invention and struggles with the ethics associated with whether, where or how to release it.
I'm hoping for lots of introspection and philosophical wranglings.
AJ
I vaguely remember a dead tree fictionalised account about one of the researchers on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos and their ethical ponderings about the atom bomb, but it was so long ago the author and title escape me.
There may be relevant content in some of the do-overs where the protagonist brings back science from the future. A New Past? Calvin Michael Johnson?
ETA: I must re-read Lumpy's Caspian Grey stories because he was into inventing and ethics.
AJ
I recall a story that may be the one you referenced. It came out about the same time as The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (1962 for Dick's story). I have read there's no connection between the two stories, though I don't know if that's true.
In the story, a Los Alamos scientist has doubts about the morality of using the A-bomb on Japan. He is transported to an alternate future where Japan has rallied and conquered America. In the end, he realizes it's necessary that America use nuclear weapons to defeat Japan. He is transported back to 1945 Los Alamos so he can continue working on the A-bomb.
Unfortunately, I don't remember the title or author, but a search of stories similar to The Man in the High Castle might turn it up.
Looks like it from the description on the wiki Kornbluth page. According to Wikipedia, Kornbluth wrote other stories concerned with the ethics of theoretical science. The OP might want to look up his stories.